Making a pumpkin pie in sky

Making the largest pumpkin pie to promote locally grown pumpkins is more like an entertainment show for the media than an effective measure to help farmers solve their problems in selling their produce, says an article on guancha.gmw.cn. Excerpts:

Chefs in Changsha, Hunan province, made a pumpkin pie weighing more than 900 kilograms with a diameter of 4 meters over the weekend and named it "rescue pumpkin" in a bid to help farmers sell the 1.75 million kg of pumpkins harvested in the city. The harvest is, however, too large to be consumed by the local people.

Chinese people like to set world records by making the largest, highest and longest things. No matter how large the pumpkin pie is, it cannot be said to be the result of an innovative idea, for a person who makes a huge pie does not necessarily possess better techniques than other pie makers.

Even some local governments like to set such records to catch the attention of the public and the media. To make the pumpkin pie, the local government, the main sponsor, had to build a large boiler, invited 40 chefs and hire excavators to make the scene sensational.

But the largest pumpkin pie will not help farmers much in their bid to sell their pumpkins. Goods remain unsold because of lack of demand. If the demand for pumpkins is not large enough, no amount of publicity and promotion will be able to sell them.

Local authorities need to reflect on the other causes behind the "troublesome" harvest. On one hand, they should help the farmers to understand the changes in market conditions. On the other, they should find ways of helping the farmers set up processing industries for local agricultural specialties.

Authorities in Changsha should hold a pumpkin festival to promote the local produce instead of making the largest pumpkin pie, and let more consumers know the special skills of the local people in processing pumpkin products.